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MARION
TOWNSHIP
Agenda and Draft Minutes
July 11, 2005
CALL
TO ORDER:
MEMBERS
PRESENT:
MEMBERS
ABSENT:
CALL
TO THE PUBLIC: Agenda
Items Only – 3 minute limit
APPROVAL
OF AGENDA:
July 11, 2005
APPROVAL
OF MINUTES FOR: May
2, 2005
OLD
BUSINESS:
None
NEW
BUSINESS:
ZBA Case # 04-05 – Michael &
Donna Chapman
ZBA Case # 05-05 – James P. &
Suzanne L. Radick
CALL
TO PUBLIC:
ADJOURNMENT:
DRAFT MINUTES
MEMBERS
PRESENT: John Lowe,
Larry Fillinger, Dan Lowe, Linda Manson-Dempsey,
and
Dan Rossbach
MEMBERS
ABSENT: None
OTHERS
PRESENT:
Mike Kehoe
, Township Attorney
Annette
McNamara
,
Zoning Administrator
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CALL TO ORDER
John Lowe called the meeting to order
at
7:35 p.m.
APPROVAL OF AGENDA
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Zoning Board of Appeals,
May 2, 2005
Larry
Fillinger motioned to approve the minutes as presented.
Linda Manson-Dempsey seconded.
Motion
carried 5-0.
OLD BUSINESS
None.
NEW BUSINESS
ZBA
Case #04-05—Michael & Donna Chapman
Thomas Halm, attorney for the
Chapmans, summarized the variance request.
Mr. Halm provided photos for the
ZBA members to review.
The porch is five feet, seven inches beyond the building envelope.
The Chapman’s
purchased the existing home in 2004;
this is a matter the Chapmans’ inherited and was discovered as a result of
a
mortgage survey.
The building was approved and issued a final compliance by the
township seven years ago.
Call to the Public
John
Lowe opened the call to the public.
Kevin
Hutchings,
5799 Carter Court
: Mr. Hutchings is vice
president of the homeowner’s association.
He
indicated the association supports the variance request by the Chapmans.
Call
to the public closed.
Motion
Dan Rossbach motioned to grant a
variance for ZBA Case #04-05, allowing five feet, seven inch front yard
setback
reduction from the required 70 feet,
relaxing Section 8.01 F 3 a of the zoning ordinance, and addressed the
following
items:
- How
the strict enforcement of the provisions of the township’s zoning
ordinance would cause an
unnecessary
hardship and deprive the owner of rights enjoyed by all other property
owners owning
property
within the same zoning district.
- The
conditions and circumstances unique to the property, which are not
similarly applicable to
other
properties in the same zoning district.
- The
conditions and circumstances unique to the property were not
self-created.
- Why
the requested variance would not confer special privileges that are
denied other properties
similarly
situated in the same zoning district.
- Why
the requested variance would not be contrary to the spirit and intent of
this zoning ordinance.
- The
difficulties shall not be deemed solely economic.
John
Lowe said not granting the variance would be a detriment to the
neighborhood, and the township
had
approved the permit for the porch in May 1997.
Larry Fillinger seconded. Roll
call vote:
Dan
Rossbach, Larry Fillinger, Linda Manson-Dempsey, John Lowe, Dan Lowe—all
yes.
Motion
carried 5-0.
ZBA Case #05-05—James P. & Suzanne L. Radick
Suzanne Radick stated she has a
recreational hobby kennel with sled dogs at the corner of Dutcher Road and
Coon
Lake Road
, and she is requesting a variance on the number of dogs allowed.
Mrs. Radick said her family has
15 dogs instead of 10.
Many of the dogs are older and retired from racing.
John
Lowe asked the ZBA members if they had any questions.
Dan Rossbach asked how many dogs
Mrs.
Radick trains. She said 8-10
dogs. Mrs. Radick said 8 of the
dogs are between 9-13.
She
uses the older dogs to help train the younger dogs.
Larry Fillinger asked what the average life
expectancy
is. Mrs. Radick said 14-15
years. Linda
Manson-Dempsey asked Mrs. Radick if she
owns
all of the dogs. Mrs. Radick
said yes. John Lowe asked how
many dogs Mrs. Radick owns.
She
said a total of
16: 15
sled dogs and a German Shepard. Mr.
Fillinger asked when the Radicks
went
over the 10-dog limit. Mrs.
Radick said the previous fall. Mr.
Fillinger asked what prompted the
variance
request. Mrs. Radick said a
noise complaint. Mrs. Radick
told the ZBA that she plans to
have
12 of the dogs debarked to resolve the noise issue.
Mr. Rossbach asked how that would affect
the
dogs. Mrs. Radick said it’s
not an uncommon practice.
Call to the Public
John
Lowe opened the call to the public. Mr.
Lowe wanted to clarify that the ZBA members are aware t
hat
the Radicks take excellent care of their dogs and that’s not a point of
issue. Mr. Lowe said the
ZBA
received 27 letters in support of the Radicks, which will be part of the
public record.
Allison
Bauer,
5757 Lange Road
: Mrs. Bauer read a letter she
wrote to the ZBA (copy attached).
Bert
Schonberger, 6090 Munsell: Ms.
Schonberger said she has shown purebred dogs for 30 years.
Many
dogs are debarked and it’s quite a common practice.
Mike
Collier,
Ohio
: Mr. Collier said he owns a
debarked dog and it’s not a problem. He
said the
Radicks
are trying hard. They have one
of the smallest kennels that races. They
have borrowed dogs
from
Mr. Collier so they don’t have to get more dogs.
Mark
Reizen, 3210 Dutcher Road: Mr.
Reizen said he’s one of the neighbors, he doesn’t live in
Ohio
.
He
said the dogs were barking on July 9 and July 10.
It wasn’t for 53 seconds; it was over 22 minutes
each
time. Mr. Reizen said he’s
appalled the Radicks would even consider debarking the dogs.
It’s
cruel,
it’s unusual, it’s illegal in
Michigan
and in the surrounding states. Mr.
Reizen said a variance
cannot
be granted when a party had prior knowledge of the ordinance and they
self-created the
hardship.
There is no benefit to the community.
It’s already been determined that there is a nuisance.
The
ZBA has no authority to grant the variance, they can’t meet any of the
criteria, and he urges the
ZBA
to not grant the variance.
Frank
Soerries,
5945 W. Coon Lake Road
: Mr. Soerries said he’s never
heard the dogs howl for
22
minutes. He has heard them howl
a couple of times. The Radicks
are very responsible with their
dogs.
Mr. Soerries said he’s lived there 3 years and he can count on one
hand the number of times
he’s
heard the dogs howling.
Todd
Dickinson,
5956 W. Coon Lake Road
: Mr. Dickenson said he’s one
of the Radicks closest
neighbors.
There’s more noise from cars and gravel haulers and loud radios.
He rarely hears the
animals
howl or bark.
Lee
Fritz, 2882 Fisk: Mr. Fritz said
he lives next to a former hobby kennel.
He doesn’t believe the
ZBA
should grant a variance to allow more dogs.
Joe
Goers,
5920 W. Coon Lake Road
: Mr. Goers said he still hears
the dogs barking, although it’s
not
as bad as it was.
David
Lynch, 3300 Dutcher Road: Mr.
Lynch read a statement to the ZBA. He
feels the Radicks have
shown
a total lack of cooperation. The
Board of Trustees has found that there is a nuisance, which
hasn’t
been abated. Mr. Lynch asks the
ZBA to deny the variance request.
Hugh
Whiting,
6040 W. Coon Lake Road
: Mr. Whiting said there’s
been many times that he’s been in
his
house with the doors and windows closed and the television on, and he can
still hear the dogs.
Kurt
Scott,
Brighton
Township
and
Schoolcraft
County
resident: Mr. Scott said he has
a neighbor with
45
sled dogs on 200-foot lots. Mr.
Scott asked if the debarking works. Mr.
Collier said if the
debarking
is done by a competent vet, and done on both sides, the dogs would only make
a cough
sound.
John Lowe added that his experience
with a neighbor’s dog that was debarked is that it made a substantial
amount
of difference.
Ms. Manson-Dempsey pointed out that a hobby kennel could be done on
about 3 acres and the
Radicks have approximately 13 acres.
Bill Szobonya, attorney representing
the Radicks, asked to address some of the issues.
Mr. Szobonya said the tape
that was done regarding the noise may
never make it to court because it can’t be authenticated.
If it is admissible in
court, all of the tapes the Radicks
made would most likely be admissible, which would be substantially less
noise than
what is alleged in the tape by
Mr. Lynch. There are allegations
of noise, but there has been no determination that
the alleged nuisance is actually in
existence. The Radicks are going
to great extremes and great cost to have the dogs
debarked.
Regarding some of the issues Mr. Reizen has mentioned, this is the
same person who’s complaint stated
that the noise from the dogs had to
exceed 55 decibels. That can’t
be known without a test being done. Second,
he
also alleges in his complaint
that there were other violations against the Radicks about their animals.
Mr. Szobonya
said there are no other violations.
It is not illegal in
Michigan
to have a dog debarked. Mr.
Reizen has made
statements on other occasions that
aren’t really legally sound. The
issue of the barking is over; that will be satisfied
at the Board meeting.
The dogs aren’t going to be debarked until the fall, so the
neighbors can complain all they
want for the next 2-3 months.
The Radicks aren’t going to do it because it can’t be done in the
summer. As far as
the number of dogs, these are older
dogs that will probably die within the next year or two.
Why is this not a benefit
for the township?
This is a great hobby. The
whole idea of a variance is to allow an exception.
Mark Reizen, 3210 Dutcher Road:
Mr. Reizen said that kind of attack is unwarranted and it’s
offensive, but what
Mr. Szobonya just told the ZBA is
screw the neighbors, they can listen to the howling throughout the summer.
That
alone should be reason enough to deny
the variance.
David Lynch, 3300 Dutcher Road:
Mr. Lynch said he also has a fairly noisy hobby that doesn’t keep
people up at
3:00 a.m.
and he doesn’t do it at his home. It’s
done in a controlled environment where it has been approved.
Mr. Lynch said he likes dogs, but
when the issue came up, it had to come to a written complaint because the
Radicks would not admit there was an
issue and do something about it.
Jim Radick:
Mr. Radick said this hobby is a benefit to the community.
They’ve taken cub scouts to the house for a
demonstration, they take the dogs to
the elementary school, they’ve had 4-H groups out, and they do share the
hobby with the community.
Kim Chappel, 2406 Clivedon:
Ms. Chappel is a friend of the Radicks’ daughter.
She said the dogs are wonderful
and she doesn’t see why five dogs
would make a difference.
John Lowe closed the call to the
public.
Larry Fillinger asked if by chance
the township requested that the dogs be brought back to the 10-dog limit,
and
those dogs were not debarked,
what can the township ask them to do to eliminate the noise.
Mike Kehoe
said his
recommendation to the township board
would be to either start from scratch with the zoning violation process or
simply go back to the previous
findings that have been made by the township board depending on the time
frame.
He would probably recommend that the
township take another look at the ordinance violation process.
John Lowe said he doesn’t see a way
around the self-created aspect—it obviously was.
The Radicks have made a
substantial improvement toward the
welfare of the neighbors through the potential elimination of the noise.
Mr. Lowe said he doesn’t believe
it’s acceptable to wait two months. Mr.
Lowe suggested that with the dogs
being debarked and a list of the
current dogs, there is an agreement set up that no new dogs are taken in
until the
Radicks are below the limit of 10
dogs. Those dogs would be
allowed to remain until they die.
Mike Kehoe
said he’s
heard conflicting statements from two different attorneys and is concerned
with
the
ZBA taking action on the debarking issue.
He requested the opportunity to check on the legality of
debarking
dogs.
Motion
Larry
Fillinger motioned to table ZBA Case #5-05 until a special meeting is held
on Tuesday, July 19
at
7:30 p.m.
, to allow the township attorney to collect additional information and allow
time for the
Radicks
to obtain instruments to quiet the dogs.
Linda Manson-Dempsey seconded. Motion
carried
5-0.
CALL TO THE PUBLIC
None.
ADJOURNMENT
Dan
Rossbach motioned to adjourn the meeting at
9:30 p.m.
Linda Manson-Dempsey seconded.
Motion
carried 5-0.
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